Helsinki: A city in love with sport
Finland a great host for the world figure skating championships
HElSINKI — As I sit at the back of the house in the gleaming Hartwall Ice Arena in the middle of the afternoon on a very brisk Wednesday in Finland, I am struck by the electricity of the place.
Nearly a full house on the opening day of the world figure skating championships and it's been this way since 10 a.m. (local time) when the first skaters hit the ice.
The concourse is hopping and, they're selling a boat load of souvenirs including t-shirts with hopeful spring flowers emblazoned on a white background. It's hard not to notice that all of the people seem very happy to be here.
Throughout the rink there are photos of Finnish hockey stars, many of them we're familiar with. Guys like Jari Kurri, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Esa Tikkanen … to name a few. Some of them starred with the local professional club Jokerit, which has played in this arena since it opened in 1997.
But right now the fans in the building are swaying to the graceful, even lyrical, movements of young women who carve the ice so effortlessly in front of their eyes. They clap and cheer and sometimes weep over the efforts of skaters from Finland, but also those from Israel, Russia, Armenia, Brazil and yes, they have a special affection for their fellow northerners from Canada.
It would seem they are internationalists here in Helsinki, citizens of the wider world of sports.
I'm told it's been that way for a long time and a visit to the 1952 Olympic Stadium bears it out.
2 statues
On the threshold of the place there are two statues of runners.
Further in the background there is the likeness of Lasse Viren, the Finnish policemen who swept the 5,000 and 10,000 metres races at both the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Up front is Paavo Nurmi, the nine-time Olympic gold medallist who revolutionized distance running throughout the 1920s. Nurmi died more than 40 years ago, but his enduring image remains exceedingly important on the landscape of the city.
Still, the face of the stadium which hosted the Games more than six decades ago is changing rapidly. Bulldozers and cranes abound as work continues around the clock to restore it to its former glory. It has been declared a national historic site and now the reconstruction, which will take three years and cost $261 million Euros ($374 million Cdn) is hitting its stride.
"It is supposed to be a place of national gathering," says an enthusiastic Ilkka Rautakiui, the estate and safety manager who is shepherding us around the construction site complete with safety helmets and fluorescent work vests.
"All of Finland watched including 70,000 who were standing in the stadium when Paavo Nurmi ran the Olympic flame into the opening ceremony in 1952. It is a source of great pride. And soon it will be again a place where young people play sport in the place where the Olympics happened."
Legacy is extremely important here. So is the symbol of the legacy. The stadium, the field of play itself, is sacred.
Giant tunnels have been carved out of the rock in the infield and they have burrowed underneath to replace the gigantic pillars which support the steep grandstands. There will be adjacent field houses, a new canopy, and the sports museum will be totally refurbished and enhanced.
Unlike other Olympic stadiums which I've seen recently, this one, while out of date, has not been allowed to go to seed. Rather it is getting a much need facelift which everyone hopes will only add to its beloved lustre.
WWII cancels 1940 Olympics
Helsinki was supposed to host the 1940 Olympics but the outbreak of WWII made that impossible. When London hosted in 1948, Helsinki completed its state-of-the-art facility and subsequently staged memorable Games which welcomed back Germany and Japan into the global sporting family as well as athletes from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China for the first time.
The most dominant performer of those 1952 Olympics was an incredible and unorthodox distance runner named Emil Zatopek. The "Czech Locomotive," as the diminutive Zatopek came to be known, won gold medals in the 5,000, the 10,000 and the marathon in the same Games. His hero, Paavo Nurmi, saw it all unfold. Even though Zatopek was not a son of Finland, he has become an eternal legend here because of his heroic and thrilling exploits in the stadium.
Our guide, Ilkka Rautakiui looks lovingly over the work that forges ahead. He has to get back to business but before we go he shows us some photos of the opening ceremony and of Nurmi running in the flame and shakes his head at the significance of it all.
"We are a small nation,"Rautakiui chuckles. "We survived the First World War. We survived the Second World War. We survived the Russians. And then we got the Olympics.
"This is important because it is the Olympic stadium and it is at the very centre of our city's life."
I think about his words now as the pairs figure skaters take to the ice after the opening ceremony to these championships, which are meant to be part of the celebration marking the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence from Russia and what was then the Soviet Union.
The faithful fans have come alive and respectfully cheer every performance.
None of their athletes are expected to win or even come close at these championships, but then again, that's not why they've bought their tickets.
It's something else which has drawn them here to witness what's happening. Undoubtedly there will be some history in the making.
In Finland, in Helsinki, that's what we're all about for the next five days.
In a city that clearly takes sport at face value.